(MENAFN- Jordan Times) There is no countrywide "humanitarian disaster" in Syria. There are pockets of deprivation that coincide with localities where there has been or is fighting between government forces and rebels.
Sanctions, a Damascus-based foreign diplomat said, are having a more malign impact than unrest.
Food supplies are adequate but delivery to restive areas has been disrupted by violence and many people who are out of work do not have funds to purchase more than basic foodstuffs.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has issued an appeal for $27 million to fund food baskets for about 100,000 people and household items for 25,000 whose houses have been damaged or destroyed. The ICRC is also providing assistance to displaced Syrians, said to number 1.5 million out of a population of 24 million.
During a visit to the embattled city of Douma, 10 kilometres northeast of Damascus, this correspondent found the central market packed with shoppers and barrow vendors selling a wide variety of fruits and vegetables: strawberries and loquat, marrows, cabbages and cauliflower.
Furthermore, electricity was on and one of the two Syrian mobile phone servers was working. A woman from a restive neighbourhood in Homs said: "Everything is available in the market but bread [which] is a problem because only one bakery is working."
She takes the bus to Damascus to buy clothing, she said.
Although sanctions are not meant to target food, there could be a bread shortage if sanctions on commercial transactions by Syrian banks prevent the government from securing sufficient grain supplies. So far, Damascus has been able to purchase large quantities through traders in Beirut. The grain harvest this month could boost supplies, but not cover the deficit.
Although the frequency of deadly bombings is increasing, life in Damascus is relatively normal. The capital's centre suffers daily power cuts of two hours; the suburbs more lengthy outages. There are no lines at petrol stations. Syria is exporting crude to Iran, where it is sold at a discount, and Tehran provides Syria with refined products.
Customers flock to restaurants and cafés, shops are open, street sellers display clothes, wallets, shoes and plastic items from China which is accused of "dumping" goods on Syria, undercutting locally manufactured commodities.
While many of the boutique hotels located in beautifully refurbished 18th and 19th century houses in the old city have closed, small, modest hotels have a steady stream of Syrian guests from Aleppo, Homs and Latakia, who have business in the capital.
The EU ban on luxury goods is supposed to target members of the regime and wealthy backers, but is ineffective. Shops in the elegant Cham City Mall, in the Kafr Soussa district, offer wedding dresses from Barcelona, Reebok and Adidas sports shoes, and Benetton T-shirts and cotton sweaters.
If sanctions on luxury items reduce supplies, luxury-loving Syrians and merchants can always drive to the Lebanese town of Chautura, near the western border, or to Beirut.
Dr Nabil Sukkar, an independent economist, said there has been "no improvement in the economy" since January-February and the "situation is deteriorating, prices are rising".
"The [Syrian] pound has stabilised at around 70 to the dollar", but the country's reserves, $17-$18 billion at the beginning of the crisis, now stand at about $12 billion. Sukkar dismissed reports that Damascus is selling its gold reserves, valued at $1.7-$1.8 billion. He observed, however: "The economy is not collapsing yet. We don't have" high unemployment, inflation and shortages. Crops are fine, the harvest is fine. The situation is very different from the strategic crisis of 1986 when Syria went bankrupt" when we had no money to buy grain" until the Arabs injected funds into the economy.
At that time, Syria had a centrally controlled economy.
"Now the private sector buys goods and supplies the market," said Sukkar.
It is clear that sanctions are not harming Syria's rulers but are hitting ordinary Syrians already under pressure caused by the unrest. Sanctions are making imports of essentials and inessentials more expensive and draining the country's foreign exchange reserves.
The reduction of revenues from oil and other exports, transit duties on goods shipped across Syria and other sources makes it more difficult for the government to pay civil servants' salaries.
However harmful, sanctions are not likely to prompt the Syrian people to rise up en masse against the government. Instead, sanctions are certain to turn Syrians against the Western countries imposing such measures.
According to the diplomatic source, bombings, assassinations and attacks on public facilities over the past few months have already made some Syrians who initially supported the rebellion shift to the government side. People are tired of this conflict and want to get on with their lives.
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